Taj79

NIL is simply pay for play. Let's take The Chosen One's Mizzou example ---- neither of those kids are going to have enough cachet in the bank to make money off using their name, image or likeness to sell one damn thing. That's a lot different than a known athlete pushing Imos. Or Mizzou-clad football players on frozen pizza boxes. Yuri pushing his 'Unknown' brand gets him little to nothing unless some big corporation steps in and helps with the advertising, production, whatever. Is anybody going to sign up for Fred Thatch's basketball camp this year? Will he even have one? It's all PAY for PLAY/ENROLL. Stop the delusion. What is EA Sports giving each college player? If they go with a 2023-24 NCAA Basketball edition, use real team names, and copy real players' images, that's where the kid deserves a cut of the action. Otherwsie I can see camps, autograph sessions, and personal visits. But I doubt anyone is going to the local Chevy dealer to meet and greet with Yao Zhang or Step van Brusselsprout.

Thanks Bob.

Go Fund Me? When I was in school, that meant ---- graduate, with a degree, and slum for a real job. Now they want free room, free board, free education, extra money and then, if anything goes awry, they want money for that free money too. No sorry here.

@Billiken Bob: I figured as much so thanks for that. Love to know even just an inkling of what the real story is here. This guy was a four- to five-star recruit who underachieved at Memphis For him to hold anyone hostage is downright ridiculous. I am guessing he's a grad transfer who didn't graduate. Second guesser always welcome.

August 12. No Billiken, No Memphis Tiger. No landing spot. Pretty damn funny if you ask me.

There isn't a true center in the conference. Holmes is a power four. Venning is a real four who may be their center and Quinn at Richmond is somewhat slight of build. Outside of those, the real big dudes will be slashers more than immovable objects this year.

@VeniceMenace --- under Ford? Do you think so? It's going to take a huge chnage in spots for Ford to back off his 'defense first' playing time dictatorship. But I think he has to adapt in many ways. Same old same old just won't work.

me and Mrs. Taj are already booked with Mrs. billiken_roy and his highness. roy will decline signing autographs this trip.

I was flipping around the channels the other night and there on the ESPN regular networks was PILLOW FIGHTING. I called Mrs Taj in to confirm I wasn't having a brain hemorrhage. Two guys, with handles on pillows, trying to claim head shots on the other guy. As long as networks pay for stupid stuff liek this, th emoney grab will go on.

The PAC-12 is left with Cal, Stanford, Oregon and Washington State. Not a whole lot to get excited there over the driving sport, football. And not much more excitement over basketball. As a matter of fact, Stanford, Cal and Oregon state were the doormats of last year's basketball standings in the PAC 12. Who would want to join in? New Mexico State? UTEP? Maybe a few from the Mountain West? There is not a lot of [pickings out there and if football is the driver, these four schools are screwed. Sixteen teams (shortly) in the SEC. Florida State and Clemson are rumbling as well. Eighteen now in the Big Ten. Is Notre Dame far off pending the end of their NBC contract? Sixteen in the Big 12 if it is Arizona, Utah and Arizona State added with Colorado. It's all the money push as well for FBS football.

Sorry ..... 20 point game at Geedubya. And me and Nick were there. Dying in person.

@Lord Elrond: thanks but I too have seen this. I was asking kind of over and above the internal propaganda piece just where we stand along in the process. Thought someone would be able to add two cents into the rendering. Good to see that you added the October bit. That was kind of what I was looking for. On a separate note, I keep looking at google maps and google earht to see where the construction site is but I am guessing those aren't updated much. Where exactly is this going up on campus?

The Atlantic 10 Must Take Advantage of Trickle-Down Realignment | A10 Talk Insight on VCU, SLU and others" The Winners, Losers, and Limbos of the 2023 Atlantic 10 Offseason: Part Two | A10 Talk The Winners, Losers, and Limbos of the 2023 Atlantic 10 Offseason: Part One | A10 Talk

What is the current status of the Champions Center? Ground broken? 50% complete? More complete? Less complete?

The reality is they will all have to be re-recruited in the new NIL world universe. Whether they play or not. And if they do play and exceed expectations, the big boys of the Power 6 will be lining up all over the place. I don't need to see a retread failure like Dalger or Ezewiro or Dandridge when I can see our very own failures (possibly) in van Bussel, Zhang and Magassa.

Dayton is all based on DaRon Holmes and no other quality bigs in the A10. I've already commented on the Bonnies and St. Joe's.

Seems like the first documented holdout by the first mediocre player for mo' money. I can't wait to trach his controibutions .... no matter where he lands.

Being a walk-on and being listed on the official roster is not the same as dressing for a game. Rudy didn't dress for every game at Notre Dame.

One of the main comments yesterday about Kiffin on the show was "don't shoot the messenger." Of course, it's funny to hear this guy complain but if you ignore the 'who" and concentrate on the "what was said" it is right on as I've been saying for quite a while.

Love him or hate him, Lane Kiffin today at SEC media day called it what it is ..... pay for play. Pay to enroll. Professional college sports. It has nothing to do with making money off your name, image and likeness which was the original intent. Play. People buy your jersey number. You get paid. Around the Horn had a clip on it and all four panelists ---- Plaschke, Johnson, Cowleshaw, and Dennis, Jr. agreed ---- it is pay for play. Glad to see folks are recognizibng this farce for what it is.

Billikenswin blowing positive yet hypothetical smoke. Typical over-expectations from nearby insiders.

French was a great Billiken, maybe one of my most favorite players of all time,however, I agree with the statement he was essentially the same player as a senior as he was as a freshman. You'd have to look long and hard to see much in terms of development. The numbers quartered above show almost mirror images freshmen to senior year. Now maybe he learned more of the intangibles and the subtle aspects of the game as his career were on maybe not. Who knows the sad point is for the most part success is shown numerically and that's not always fair. The Pod Boys just did some sort of bracket on most improved Billiken of all time. I casually glanced at it but I didn't really follow it but from where I'm sitting right now I don't recall and I sincerely doubt French was in any of the brackets. Guys that obviously got better overtime as they move through their Billiken careers where guys like Dwayne Evans, Brian Conklin, Irwin Claggett, and the current version of Gibson Jimerson. Hasahn French was essentially as steady as the Rock of Gibraltar but again the same player all four years.

The Joey's return everyone except their starting center and they're replacing him with a massive seven-footer Named Christ who red shirted last year. Bonaventure returns all five starters. Everybody's gonna love Dayton because of DaRon Holmes. VCU is replacing everybody including the coach. Duquesne could be a dark horse, Dambrot returns two key players in Grant and Clark plus they will play a cupcake-filled schedule no matter what year it is. Is two players enough? Loyola was horrible last year and they lost some transfers so it remains to be seen if Drew Valentine can salvage the ship. Mason lost everybody including their coach to Providence. And Fordham had only had two scores in Quizzenberry and Moore and both of them are gone. I am sticking by St Joe's with Bonaventure both being top 4. Dayton and VCU have history so it's kinda hard to go against them. And as noted while Duquesne returns to Dambrot who has shown an ability to incorporate transfers.

I know these lists are just click bait and discussion fodder, but Cal won 3 games last year. Gimme a fuoking break!

When it comes to recruiting, Travis Ford should have no issue with recruiting guards. He was a guard himself at both Missouri and Kentucky. He went to a national title game as a point guard with Kentucky. In his recent tenure at St Louis he's had Javon Bess, a guard; Tremaine IsabelL, a guard; Jordan Goodwin, a guard; Gibson Jimerson, a guard; and Yuri Collins, a guard. If you count all those as successes then the failures would have to be in the big men. DJ Foreman. Hasahn French. Francis Okoro. And I've already done the litany of big men that have transferred out of this program in the last six or 7 years under Fort. The guards under Travis Ford are not a problem.